With the appearance of this English translation, Western readers will for the first time be able to appreciate the poetry of Korea's most revered and popular modern poet. Born at the beginning of the twentieth century, Sowol was the first poet to introduce the Korean vernacular into poetry. His verse combines sharply edged, everyday phrasing with a lyrical lightness of expression that is unique among modern poets. His poems on loss and death evoke the transience of life with a beauty that transcends despair -- the triumph of his art. Sowol has been well served in this translation in which Jaihiun Kim, one of Korea's finer poets and translators, has combined with Ronald B Hatch to present sowol's poetry in an English translation that is always contemporary yet echoes Sowol's Eastern tonalities.